Miserable Adventures of Shiho in Wonderland
by Papyn Chase
Summary: This is about Ai's search for herself hoping that it would help her in her research of the counteragent.
1. The Fat and The Furryious

Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan and the characters contained within. But I did write this story so there. Comments, input, feedback, opinions, thoughts, and flaming welcomed.

Enjoy

Chapter 1: The Fat and the Furr(y)ious.

"Haibara, dinner's still warm if you want any," said the professor at the door. Ai could hear the professor muffling words like 'she'll get sick if she goes on like this', and 'could at least have a bite' as his voice fades.

'Couldn't help it,' Ai thought. This time around she'd gotten considerably closer to rediscovering the formula to the apoptoxin, and that means closer to the counteragent. She felt like she was in 'the zone', the term she uses when she knows she's mentally at her best. 'On fire,' she whispered as the computer confirmed that the variables fit one of the equations. Why was Ai using sports terms, you ask? She's an Osaka football fan so go figure.

An artwork reflects the state of mind of the artist. She always thought it was her fault for creating No.4869. Well, it was supposed to be a deadly poison--why did it transpose into a shrinking agent? While she was under pressure and loathing her time while with the dreaded people, nothing could substantiate those claims that point to any decline in performance in the poison research. Was it her subconscious that was strong enough to force a trivial change? A defensive mechanism to prevent her from murder? If it's true, then all she has to do is to understand 'herself'. At least that's what she called it.

It was just before two o'clock in the morning before she called it quits. Stomachs don't just growl for no good reason. She took her lab coat off, placing them neatly on the chair and slowly walked out of the room, to the kitchen holding a book. What book you ask? Hint: lots of numbers. Her research? Wrong. Phone book? At this hour? Check book? Please. 'Stupid homework,' she sighs as she opened the book while we were busy guessing, making herself comfortable on the chair while sipping her coffee.

I hope you know what Hyper Threading is because that's exactly what is going on in her head at that moment. Oh, she was thinking about something else while doing her homework...I know that's not such a hard thing to do but that's the best analogy I could think of at the moment.

'Rabbit hole,' she thought. Huh?

She knew that even in her shrunken form, she might not be able to fit into one but she couldn't get over it as she wasn't pretty certain of how big one was. The only rabbits she knew lived happily in comfortable cages (animal lovers: comfy cage? blasphemous!) behind the school yard. If it wasn't for Ayumi, she would never had a better place to visit to when the weeds of the present (and past) become unbearable to tend. And the scenery was quaint and picturesque; ginkgo leaves will fall onto the ground as if to greet her. And no worries about the Black Organization, or whatever they call them these days.

Maybe they might show up. But the sight of seeing Gin and Vodka visiting cute, little, furry animals made her somehow more amused than feeling scared.

'The White Rabbit would seem the likelier to appear,' she yawned before gulping on the last of her coffee. Turning her attention to her homework she realized that she had made a mistake on the last question. Nothing to worry about folks, she just forgot to add a decimal point. Grinning, she added the dot with an air of elegance.

"There, now off to sleep--"

"I'm late! I'm late!"

She wasn't too suprised: it was the professor who just ran out of the house, slamming the door behind him. But 'late' at this hour? Ai turned to the window. She could see the the bug just outside the gate, the engine running.

Ai rubbed her eyes. And rubbed it again. And then for the third time.

A pair of rabbit-like ears was attached onto the windscreen of the car.

Curious, she ran down the stairs, not out of concern--she knew the professor only too well. But not to the extent of having ears on vehicles. Ai opened the front door peering out. The engine had stopped running. Walking closer, she couldn't see the professor anywhere.

"Professor?" she called out in a flat tone.

Ai scanned her surrounding, finally spotting a pair of white gloves on the floor. She dusted it off, and made out an initial.

"W.R?"

Ai put it into her small jeans pockets for further examination and called out for the professor again. The streetlights somehow weren't in order; Ai found it hard to walk out further. She knew that the only other person responsible for frying out the neighborhood lights other than freakin' UFOs was Agasa over-clocking his inventions of sorts. But on this occasion big old man wasn't around for talks. Not that she felt like giving any lectures right then but--

"Professor?" this time louder.

Sensing something amiss, she ran back into the house, and then reached for the flashlight by the cupboard. She retraced her steps, lights on, looking for some lost big piece of meat sporting a white beard (I know there are Prof. Agasa fans who wouldn't like the descriptions given but hey).

It was only about 50 yards before light drops of rain came trickling down. Looking up, she paused momentarily.

"Kudo?" she whispered; the only useful name she knew. She shook her head and went on." If it turns out to be nothing serious, it'd only strengthen his belief that I'm still 'Miss Fear' and needs more--"

Rain started to fall down in torrents. From where we last saw our Ai philosophized, a car with ears came screaming past, it's destination unknown. Lightning flashed, illuminating the twilight area, clearly producing faded tracks on the crimson, muddy ground. Another car strolled past, its headlights made the shadows of electrical poles chase each other as would any passing light; driver ignorant of the precedents.

But where is Ai?


	2. Carry on With The Obvious

This is so embarrassing… it took so long for me to come up with the second chapter… Anyway, I'm done with my finals and work on this actually done many weeks ago. I've managed to add a few ideas, scraping away some ideas, making it a bit different from what I had in mind in my notes (which I had trouble finding).

Again, I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed, or the characters. This is just a fanfic from a fan, never wanting to make any money out of it. But other things that haven't been copyrighted here, well, I wrote them… /

By the way, any thoughts, feedback, flaming, or sweets welcomed.

**Chapter 2: Carry on with the Obvious...**

"_What is immobile must suffer violence," – Edward Lasker._

"Haibara?"

She heard her name being called. She was in no hurry to answer -- it's not like she could, though, as every attempt to utter a word left her breathless. But her familiarity with the voice instantly made her know that she was somewhere safe.

She'd be on her bed; and just like in every (typical) episode, he would be by her side whenever 'Tragedy-Prone' Ai needed unsolicited, but silently appreciated, company. He needn't say any words of encouragement. She knew what he'd say anyway; both able to pass their thoughts in silence.

For Ai, however, while being able to receive most of his, some of hers felt like they traveled along a one way stream, always ending up somewhere else… and always lost. Like a paper ship you just wish would reach somewhere... full of hopes, all the while aware of the inevitable end.

Now, all she had to do was open her eyes and--hang on...what's this?

A male dove, his name was Vladimir, was flying in circles around his mate, Marsha, in the bright blue sky (don't ask me why they were dating up there or why they had such names), chirping flawless notes which, unmistakably, were love songs, probably taken right out of a Kenny G album. Marsha was about to do her part of the duet when—

"YEEEEAAYAAYYAYAARRHHHHHHH!"

Vladimir's birdie eyes stared wide open at Marsha.

"No, it was not me, Vladdykins," said Marsha, in her urban Russian accent, when she noticed his confusion.

"Then who--,"

Whack!

"Vladdykins!"

Now, let's turn our attention away from those love birds and focus on Ai. It's easy to figure it out but I will have to stick to formalities -- she was freefalling down the sky, screaming words which, no doubt, had traces of 'Parental Advisory'.

"Thanks a lot, Kudo!" she screamed. "Instead of being granted instant death, replaying it on God's widescreen while eating fried angel wings on a sofa, you wake me up (not that he really did) and let me add some more verbs to it!"

Those were the last words heard from Ai that day. I know they were not quite good last words you would expect from her but she hasn't met her creator yet because, well, read on…

Blank.

"How convenient," she said to herself, referring to the five letters that described what she saw. She wasn't even sure if her eyes were really closed. Her mind started to race (crawled, rather…) backwards, reconstructing the turn of events that began to project clearly in her mind.

"Are you okay?"

Ai felt someone shaking her shoulders. Ai felt the movement welcomed by her body as if they had transformed into kinetic energy. Slowly and slowly, her eyes opened to a blurry face. Up side down, it seemed, so she tried getting up to meet the stranger. After much effort, she managed to bring her body up; straws of hay which had stuck on her clothes fell off her as she did.

"Are you okay?" the stranger repeated.

"My body hurts all over—"

Ai froze. Right in front of her stood Ayumi -- with a mouse-like nose and whiskers.

"What happened to you?" Ai shot out.

"I don't think she's okay, Ms Areyoume," said another whom Ai made out as Mitsuhiko, or at least someone who looks like him—with a long beak and brightly colored wings!

"Well, can you please help me get this poor creature in, Michi?" asked Ms Areyoume, obviously ignoring Ai's question.

"Sure, Ms Areyoume."

Ai only watched as he put her left arm around his shoulder while Ms. Areyoume took care of the other, walking her slowly towards a small wooden house. She managed to look back at the stack of hay she landed on. It was a pretty big pile, considerably larger than that of a truck but she knew that there was no way she could've survived such a fall. But on her right was a girl with a mousy nose and whiskers and on her other side there was a colorful 'Big Bird'. Anything would have made sense to her then.

Soon, their walk in the woods brought them to a small, wooden house. It was a small one storey house with not much furniture. Brown and buff colored was the theme of the interior and wooden furniture complemented them, giving a hint that the place had a touch from someone neat and simple.

"Where do I start?" Ai thought.

What happened to the professor, why she was falling from the sky, how she survived, where she was, and who these people were -- they all need answers. And she had none. Except for the last one, she might have come up with something reasonable.

For the time being she may as well resort to assumptions and fill the gaps with anything she could think of. That's how most humans operate when they go about their line of thinking (I did my research). Anything cloudy remains cloudy. And what remains cloudy somehow eventually ends up being the truth. Even when a crack of light gets through, they're so used with the 'truth' they don't feel like giving it up.

She wasn't losing objectivity but she guessed that anybody would do the same.

"Where am I…" she asked out loud, not really in a questioning tone, but it fell under the question bracket anyway as it started with 'where'.

"Why, this is Greywood," said Ms Areyoume in reply as she helped Ai onto a bed. Note that it was not a question even though it started with 'why'. I hate English...

"Now, don't talk too much, we must do something about those bruises of yours."

Michi came into the room with a wooden box, a medicine box as it turned out, and Ms Areyoume took some things out before dabbing some sort of bluish ointment onto some parts of her legs, just after cleaning them with a wet towel. Ai only watched as Ms Areyoume tended the little wounds. Sometimes she'd look at Ms Areyoume but the 'person' in front of her would only smile at her…

"There you go," Ms Areyoumi said while adding some finishing touches to the bandage on Ai's leg.

Ai couldn't help but notice that the mouse-like Ayumi in front of her had the same mother-like qualities like the Ayumi she knew. Looking at Ms Areyoume's face, which was similar to Ayumi's adorable face you just wish belongs to your little sister, Ai said nothing more.

Ai was not slow to realize what was going on. In fact, any reader would, no doubt, be able to guess anything I might write right till the very end…

"I tailed the 'White Rabbit', 'fell' into this world and encountered a mouse and a bird just like in the story," she started to reason. "This must be Wonderland! I think I've skipped the part where I'm supposed to find the drink that would--"

She was just about to finish by remarking about the potion's properties when she saw Ms Areyoume holding onto her mousy nose and whiskers...and, to Ai's surprise, stripped them right off!


	3. I See You, si?

I know I'm repeating this over and over but just in case. I don't own Detective Conan/Case Closed and the characters contained within; I don't make money out of anything I wrote. I'm beginning to work on this story a bit more seriously right now after the exams. I'm still sticking to most of the notes I made previously which would form the bulk of the story till the end but I really hope this is one of those that gets better as it goes. I'm adamant of giving Ai an adventure on just to balance those, y'know, the ConanxAi...

Again, thoughts, feedback, instructive input, comments, flaming, kisses welcomed.

Oh, I want to take this opportunity to wish you guys Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

**Chapter 3: I See You, _si_?**

Lying on her bed, Ai stared hazily at her own reflection on the glassy windowpane, disinterested with the scenic morning view outside which would have made other people feel otherwise. She looked as grumpy as a grouch, unable to liberate herself from the slavery of deep contemplation. The cup of coffee didn't help. One might claim this as the ideal setting for a Nescafe commercial shoot _and_ the perfect model to boot...

Her attention turned to her clothes. Ms Areyoume had kindly spared hers while offering to take care of Ai's polluted clothes. Guess what Ai's wearing?

"Now I look like Alice…," she sighed. She moved closer to the window, closed her eyes for a few seconds and let the light morning ray shine on her face. Not a routine thing but somehow she felt at peace knowing she was still alive, greeting the warmth that surged through her, taking out any traces of lazy, rheumatic cells with it.

Ai slipped off her bed and walked slowly towards the door. She was still feeling a little weak, but she wasn't used to lying on the bed all day.

Ms Areyoume lived alone in that little house. She had told Ai to make herself comfortable as she went to discuss town matters with the rest of the council. Taking a seat on a medievalish looking grey sofa Ai's mind slowly wandered back to what happened last night.

"_We were from a costume party," laughed Ms Areyoume when Ai started with the interrogation. "How could we have been Cinder-sized _(synthesized…)_ magical creatures?" she asked._

Ai learned of the annual costume party which was a tradition of the town of Greywood, feeling stupid as Ms Areyoume cleared up the confusion. Michi, being the gentleman he was, offered to walk her home after the party, and they were surprised to see a foreign face in the pile of hay not far from Ms Areyoume's house. The hay was supposed to be for some future roof work but this time it proved to be a lifesaver.

The previous night's question and answer session didn't go too well. While Ai relentlessly brought up the subject of being in an imaginary land and the strange occurrences she experienced along the way, she never realized that Michi would take exception to it; he excused himself as soon as he was unable to bear with being regarded as Ai's fancy thoughts. Trying to prevent further awkwardness, Areyoume apologized for Michi, asking Ai to rest and let the questions rest for the night.

While Ms Areyoume gave her assurances, Ai saw hints of disappointment behind Ms Areyoume's weak smile. Alone in the room after Ms Areyoume walked out, a shallow sense of guiltiness pervaded her, all the time taken aback by the big maturity leap shown by the two. It may be wide of the mark to use the term maturity leap, but Ai still associated Ms Areyoume and Michi to the two people she knew.

Her thoughts snapped back to the present when, from the corner of her eyes, spotted through the window someone standing outside next to one of the small trees. On any other circumstance she knew that such a sight would make her tremble with fear. For once, she thought, what else could get worse?

Already outside, Ai took slow steps nearer towards the trees, never losing sight of the pair of eyes which was staring right back at her. She thought she saw a close likeness to a photo from one of Georgio Armani's latest model shoot (hmm, I think she reads em…); she couldn't remember which month but…

"Gin…,"

What else would she say? Good morning?

Even with her form, there was a feeling that, somehow, the person in front of her knew everything…

He let out a breath; the light smoke faded away slowly as the leisurely morning wind blew it away. I can hear orchestral groans already so I'll refrain from relating to you how Gin stood there handsomely with—

"Gin?"

"Well, aren't you?" Ai asked.

"In these parts, I'm known as the Cheshire Grin and—hmm, that dress looks nice on you…"

"If this is a parody it isn't funny…," Ai broke his talk as soon as she knew where he was going. While everything was far from being susceptible to any analysis, playing along in this world only made Ai inch nearer to her boiling point.

The Cheshire Grin (yes, that's what we're going to call him from now on) finally eked out the grin he was known for, obviously amused by her frustration.

"I know what you're looking for," he smiled.

"Then give it to me," she responded, her voice came out almost voluntarily.

"The Eighth Square—"

"STOP PLAYING WITH ME!" Ai yelled. "Don't tell me I have to walk through all eight squares, become queen, and have tea with the other queen before being able to get back!"

"You know, Alice didn't have such a temper," sniffed the displeasured Cheshire Grin. He looked to have shown a fiery temper just through the look of his eyes but they were contrasted by his ever-widening grin.

"I told you I know what you're looking for but you sound like you think I don't," he added. "The formula it is that you seek, is it not?"

"Are you speaking of the counter-agent?" she started, caught off guard by the sudden return to matters of the real world.

"Alice, Alice…, don't rush. You have this little child enigma, looking for quick answers, always underestimating ways to answer things that need time to free itself from the blinding clouds that bind, or so Confucius said…," he paused, "well, at least something like that."

"Why do I have a feeling that you're not going to be much of a help?" Ai asked, noticing his grin getting ever wider.

"Oh, I might," he said rather sarcastically.

"You could at least tell me where I should go from here…,"

He raised one arm and pointed to a path that went west of Miss Areyoume's house.

"There, you will find the Mad Chatter," he said without looking at her, "and the other path (which clearly was the only other path on the east) will take you to the April Hare."

Ai was beginning to feel rather ticklish with the cheap rip-offs…

"Ai!"

It was Ms Areyoume calling out in the distance.

Immediately the Cheshire Grin started to vanish. What started out as a solid vision began to die out. He ultimately disappeared and, just as Ai expected, left his grin behind. But under close examination, it was somewhat glossier than one would expect of a heavy smoker…

"Urgh, he needn't use too much Colgate…," Ai thought, referring to the extra shine.

But when the grin finally vanished, he forgot something…

"…"

"Well, aren't you going?"

"Uh…you can still see me?"

"Your cigarette's still sticking out," Ai pointed out.

"Oh…"

The cigarette fell onto the ground, and with that, her brief encounter with the Cheshire Grin was brought to an end; bringing speculation that there's some contact with reality…


End file.
